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Leonard Ncube in Hwange

ZIMBABWE’S drive to permanently do away with power shortages is well on course with construction of a new thermal power plant that is expected to feed 50MW to the national grid before end of the year now complete in Hwange.

Energy and Power Development Minister Soda Zhemu and other officials tour the ZZEE plant in Hwange

Construction work on the Zimbabwe Zhongxin Electrical Energy (ZZEE) plant is 100 percent complete while work on the substation is 99 percent, waiting for arrival of isolator equipment which is set to be dispatched from China in the next few weeks.

Some equipment for the 800kv high voltage line is now in Johannesburg, South Africa enroute to Hwange.

The first 25MW will be fed into the grid in September and the other half the following month, while the second phase will see the plant increasing capacity to 270MW, ZZEE general manager Mr Shiwei Wang told Energy and Power Development Minister Soda Zhemu who is touring the plant on the outskirts of Hwange.

Minister Zhemu said this will be the first privately owned thermal plant in the country.

More to follow….